Seven Ohio high school football referees claim they were barricaded inside of locker room after game

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per CBS:

A group of seven Ohio high school football referees were barricaded inside a locker room following a game at Grove City High School on Sept. 10. According to a police report obtained by WBNS, the Grove City High School principal reported on Sept. 13 that a vending machine was moved between 9:10 p.m. and 9:43 p.m. in front of the girls' locker room -- an empty room that had been assigned to the referees.

The police report also stated that a Grove City High School assistant coach "charged them (the referees) in a very threatening manner," and "was very combative" directly after game ended. The referees said that the assistant coach had to be restrained by other coaches. Following that altercation, the referees migrated to the girls' locker room for their post game review.

On Sept. 17, three of the referees involved informed police that they were barricaded inside of the locker room following the game between Grove City High School and Central Crossing High School. Police have stated that there is no surveillance video of the alleged incident.

A South-Western City School District spokesperson gave the following statement WBNS about the matter:

On behalf of Grove City High School and the South-Western City School District, we sincerely apologize for the locker room incident following the September 10 Grove City HS vs. Central Crossing HS football game. We do not condone this behavior and are extremely disappointed in the actions of those who perpetrated this incident and emphasize that they are not representative of the ideals or standards to which we hold our students, parents, staff, and community.
Grove City High School has apologized to the officials, OCC, and OHSAA for this incident. We have taken corrective steps to ensure that this will not happen again and that everyone will have a safe and positive experience at our athletic contests in the future.
We continue to investigate this incident and have engaged the Grove City Police Department in the investigation to determine who was responsible for this behavior. Conduct of this nature has no place in our school community."
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The referees only realized the door was blocked shut when they attempted to leave. They shouted and knocked on the door in hopes of getting help for 20 minutes before taking matters in their own hands and forcing the door open.

www.cbssports.com

Seven Ohio high school football referees claim they were barricaded inside of locker room after game

A Grove City High School assistant coach 'charged' the referees in a 'very threatening manner' on the field before the officials moved to the locker room
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

Go Gophers!!
 



Barricading officials inside a room against their will is a crime and is inexcusable behavior by whoever did it.

Setting that aside, I always have a problem with fluff allegations like "charged them (the referees) in a very threatening manner." Having not seen what happened, that sounds like the way you take something as benign as being approached by a coach who was upset at one of your calls and try to characterize in a way that makes it sound like some kind of attack. To reiterate, this does not make locking referees in a room ok.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Barricading officials inside a room against their will is a crime and is inexcusable behavior by whoever did it.

Setting that aside, I always have a problem with fluff allegations like "charged them (the referees) in a very threatening manner." Having not seen what happened, that sounds like the way you take something as benign as being approached by a coach who was upset at one of your calls and try to characterize in a way that makes it sound like some kind of attack. To reiterate, this does not make locking referees in a room ok.
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I don't know, in this case the behavior of the assistant coach was probably pretty bad. If I had to guess this was the same coach who moved the vending machine to block the door.

Gotta say though, based on the headline I was expecting something way worse, possibly involving an angry group of fans or something along those lines.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I don't know, in this case the behavior of the assistant coach was probably pretty bad. If I had to guess this was the same coach who moved the vending machine to block the door.

Gotta say though, based on the headline I was expecting something way worse, possibly involving an angry group of fans or something along those lines.
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One guy moved the machine to block the door but seven refs couldn't move it out of the way?
 

Dakota2 said:
One guy moved the machine to block the door but seven refs couldn't move it out of the way?
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Just guessing....but they probably tried to leave and the door was blocked. So they tried to get help and then when none came they forced the door open on their own.
 




bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Barricading officials inside a room against their will is a crime and is inexcusable behavior by whoever did it.

Setting that aside, I always have a problem with fluff allegations like "charged them (the referees) in a very threatening manner." Having not seen what happened, that sounds like the way you take something as benign as being approached by a coach who was upset at one of your calls and try to characterize in a way that makes it sound like some kind of attack. To reiterate, this does not make locking referees in a room ok.
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It did say the coach had to be restrained by other coaches...
 

LOL

If this was done as a prank by some random HS student following the game, this story wouldn't even see the light of day. But hey an angry coach was involved and people were, you know...

200246008_b5b1a7b170_b.jpg
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Barricading officials inside a room against their will is a crime and is inexcusable behavior by whoever did it.

Setting that aside, I always have a problem with fluff allegations like "charged them (the referees) in a very threatening manner." Having not seen what happened, that sounds like the way you take something as benign as being approached by a coach who was upset at one of your calls and try to characterize in a way that makes it sound like some kind of attack. To reiterate, this does not make locking referees in a room ok.
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He had to be restrained by other coaches. Seems pretty bad.
 



Dances With Gophers said:
LOL

If this was done as a prank by some random HS student following the game, this story wouldn't even see the light of day. But hey an angry coach was involved and people were, you know...

200246008_b5b1a7b170_b.jpg
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I don't think there's any inherent logic to what would or wouldn't "see the light of day" in a story like this.
 


I read this story is saying that the Ohio coach doesn't feel they got their money's worth for paying for two extra officials.
 


tikited said:
Was it a pop machine or candy? This detail matters to me.
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Almost certainly candy. Soda machines are very heavy. Also a decent chance it wasn't soda at all. I feel like most schools have transitioned to healthier options.
 

It is so pathetic the way high school referees, and referees for all youth sports, are treated. The crap they deal with has become such a huge problem that many are deciding to walk away from officiating because it’s not worth 60 bucks a game. I coach a different youth sport, and we’ve repeatedly had schedules adjusted because they can’t find referees. And from what I can tell it’s only going to get worse. The kids I coach are old enough, and probably have enough knowledge of the rules, that they could start refereeing games for younger kids. But they see the way referees are treated and want no part of it.

To anyone who cares about youth sports: please leave referees alone, or be prepared to pick up the whistle yourself.
 

bizzle22 said:
It is so pathetic the way high school referees, and referees for all youth sports, are treated. The crap they deal with has become such a huge problem that many are deciding to walk away from officiating because it’s not worth 60 bucks a game. I coach a different youth sport, and we’ve repeatedly had schedules adjusted because they can’t find referees. And from what I can tell it’s only going to get worse. The kids I coach are old enough, and probably have enough knowledge of the rules, that they could start refereeing games for younger kids. But they see the way referees are treated and want no part of it.

To anyone who cares about youth sports: please leave referees alone, or be prepared to pick up the whistle yourself.
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I'm amazed anyone does it. Lotta time to do that, maybe get some shit from folks, and go home.
 

It's a thankless job. Definitely not worth the money.
 

bizzle22 said:
It is so pathetic the way high school referees, and referees for all youth sports, are treated. The crap they deal with has become such a huge problem that many are deciding to walk away from officiating because it’s not worth 60 bucks a game. I coach a different youth sport, and we’ve repeatedly had schedules adjusted because they can’t find referees. And from what I can tell it’s only going to get worse. The kids I coach are old enough, and probably have enough knowledge of the rules, that they could start refereeing games for younger kids. But they see the way referees are treated and want no part of it.

To anyone who cares about youth sports: please leave referees alone, or be prepared to pick up the whistle yourself.
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I refereed youth soccer for many years as a young adult. Often the kids were having a fun time and competing with respect, it was always the adults that were the problem. Coaches were bad at times, but parents were almost always the worst part of the job. Eventually I started refereeing adult recreation leagues and the players were just terrible. That's when I quit doing it, it wasn't worth the trouble any more and there was no fun involved any more.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Almost certainly candy. Soda machines are very heavy. Also a decent chance it wasn't soda at all. I feel like most schools have transitioned to healthier options.
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It's pronounced "pop."
 
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Ski U Master said:
I refereed youth soccer for many years as a young adult. Often the kids were having a fun time and competing with respect, it was always the adults that were the problem. Coaches were bad at times, but parents were almost always the worst part of the job. Eventually I started refereeing adult recreation leagues and the players were just terrible. That's when I quit doing it, it wasn't worth the trouble any more and there was no fun involved any more.
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Kind of funny reading this. As a parent I never talk to refs. As a coach I would only do so if I thought my players were in danger (soccer ref not calling any fouls when a game is getting chippy). As a softball player we would be having beers with the ump after the game so any talk was good natured.

But up until recently I played men's league basketball and 1) those refs were horrible, 2) they sure heard about it from the players.

Now my son is becoming a soccer ref. Fingers crossed.
 
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A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I'm amazed anyone does it. Lotta time to do that, maybe get some shit from folks, and go home.
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The other night I picked up my 14 year old while on an officiating conference call and he goes “I wish people understood you just don’t show up for the games.”
 

IMO Any adult sport and anything under 7th grade is brutal at times to officiate. Kids are learning, coaching is not age appropriate and fans are overzealous. High school is pretty easy and I can count the issues in 20 years on one hand.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
There is no evidence that it took one person to block the door with the vending machine.
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You pointed out one asst coach needed to be restrained. So maybe six janitors helped him? The cheerleaders?
 

Dakota2 said:
You pointed out one asst coach needed to be restrained. So maybe six janitors helped him? The cheerleaders?
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Players? Other coaches?
 



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